1. Field of the Invention:
The invention is directed to a poultry processing apparatus and more specifically to an improved neck breaker assembly. The neck is held in place against a neck breaking block by a pivotable V-shaped aligning and holding assembly. The block is then projected against the neck, breaking it, without completely severing the neck skin. The severed neck is then drawn downwardly away from the bird stretching the neck skin and exposing the neck to further processing.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
The applicant in a previous patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,676, which is incorporated herein by reference, disclosed a neck breaking assembly wherein the V-shaped aligning and holding means is pivoted against the breaker block to break the bird's neck. The block is then drawn downwardly to separate the neck from the bird while stretching the neck skin and exposing the neck to further processing. Although this assembly has been very successful, it has been found that with larger bird's the neck breaking operation puts a great deal of stress on the V-shaped aligning and holding means. To overcome this problem the present invention was developed as an improvement over the previous neck breaker assembly and is particularly adaptable for larger bird's. Like the previous neck breaker assembly disclosed in my prior patent, the improved assembly is readily adaptable to the support module disclosed in this patent.